Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park opens for season

By Charlie Brennan, Camera Staff Writer

Posted:
05/24/2013 09:11:55 AM MDT

Summer skiers Karl Hudnut and Robert Sequeira both of Nederland take a break in a pullout along Trail Ridge Road on Friday. The national park opened the nation's highest continuous highway over the Continental Divide on Friday. The road offers easy access to spring snow in Rocky Mountain National Park.
PHOTO BY WALT HESTER (Walt Hester)

Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park, the highest continuous paved road in the United States, opened for the summer season this morning.

The opening, which traditionally takes place on Memorial Day weekend, was scheduled to be marked by a ribbon cutting including the mayors of both Estes Park and Grand Lake, but that event was cancelled due to ice on the road.

The road, which climbs to 12,183 feet, officially closed for the winter on Oct. 17. Last year, it opened for the summer on May 14. The latest it has opened is June 26, in 1943.

Due to heavy melting on the the road during the day, and freezing temperatures at night, visitors to the park should anticipate possible nightly closures. The Alpine Visitor Center and the Trail Ridge Store, perched at 11,796 feet, are expected to open sometime next week.

Park plowing crews started working on clearing the road in mid-April, and encountered snow drifts 18 to 22 feet deep. Much of that snow accumulated in the early spring.

The park staff expects a busy Memorial Day weekend. Both reservation campgrounds in the park are already full for Saturday and Sunday, and the first-come, first-serve campgrounds are expected to also fill up.

Weather conditions in the park can change quickly, and those planning visits can check on conditions there at a recorded phone line, 970-586-1222. For more information on the park, go to www.nps.gov/romo or call the park's information office at 970-586-1206.

MacIntyre says the completed project will be best in Pac-12There were bulldozers, hard hats, mud, concrete trucks, blueprints, mud, cranes, lots of noise and, uh, mud, during the last recruiting cycle when Colorado football coach Mike MacIntyre brought recruits to campus. Full Story

MacIntyre says the completed project will be best in Pac-12There were bulldozers, hard hats, mud, concrete trucks, blueprints, mud, cranes, lots of noise and, uh, mud, during the last recruiting cycle when Colorado football coach Mike MacIntyre brought recruits to campus. Full Story

Most people don't play guitar like Grayson Erhard does. That's because most people can't play guitar like he does. The guitarist for Fort Collins' Aspen Hourglass often uses a difficult two-hands-on-the-fretboard technique that Eddie Van Halen first popularized but which players such as Erhard have developed beyond pop-rock vulgarity.
Full Story